Customer service management

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure relates techniques for coordinating and synchronizing client-facing support services with the activities and responses from one or more technical teams assigned to address a client issue. In certain implementations, this may allow an agent or customer approach to use a single reference identifier (such as a case or matter number) to access information or updates from technical teams that do not typically employ such a number for their own tracking purposes. In this manner, relevant information to a client issue may be accessed from all involved technical teams at the agent level as well as allowing the technical teams themselves to readily see activity by other teams.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S.application Ser. No. 16/224,359, filed Dec. 18, 2018, and entitled,“CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGEMENT,” the disclosure of which is incorporatedby reference in its entirety for all purposes.

BACKGROUND

This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects ofart that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure,which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed tobe helpful in providing the reader with background information tofacilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the presentdisclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statementsare to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.

Organizations, regardless of size, rely upon access to informationtechnology (IT) and data and services for their continued operation andsuccess. A respective organization's IT infrastructure may haveassociated hardware resources (e.g. computing devices, load balancers,firewalls, switches, etc.) and software resources (e.g. productivitysoftware, database applications, custom applications, and so forth).Over time, more and more organizations have turned to cloud computingapproaches to supplement or enhance their IT infrastructure solutions.

Cloud computing relates to the sharing of computing resources that aregenerally accessed via the Internet. In particular, a cloud computinginfrastructure allows users, such as individuals and/or enterprises, toaccess a shared pool of computing resources, such as servers, storagedevices, networks, applications, and/or other computing based services.By doing so, users are able to access computing resources on demand thatare located at remote locations, which resources may be used to performa variety of computing functions (e.g., storing and/or processing largequantities of computing data). For enterprise and other organizationusers, cloud computing provides flexibility in accessing cloud computingresources without accruing large up-front costs, such as purchasingexpensive network equipment or investing large amounts of time inestablishing a private network infrastructure. Instead, by utilizingcloud computing resources, users are able redirect their resources tofocus on their enterprise's core functions.

One aspect of IT management and support, as with any technical endeavor,is addressing client requests and problems so as to allow continued orimproved operation of such resources in support of the client. This maybe both more complex and more important in a cloud-based environment inview of the number of components and links involved in providing the ITinfrastructure, the complexity of the platform, and the geographicseparation between aspects of the platform.

One example of issues that may arise in such a context is the separationbetween the client-facing support team, such as a customer agent, whocoordinates with a client to address requests, incidents, and problems,and the disparate technical teams that may provide the technicalanalysis or solution to such issues. Indeed, different technical teamsor departments may exist for different types of client issues, eachmaintaining their own tracking and nomenclature. As a consequence, acustomer agent or the client may not be able to readily obtain,coordinate, or assess the activities or responses related to a givenrequest or problem in an efficient manner.

SUMMARY

A summary of certain embodiments disclosed herein is set forth below. Itshould be understood that these aspects are presented merely to providethe reader with a brief summary of these certain embodiments and thatthese aspects are not intended to limit the scope of this disclosure.Indeed, this disclosure may encompass a variety of aspects that may notbe set forth below.

The present disclosure relates techniques for coordinating andsynchronizing client-facing support service with the activities andresponses from one or more technical teams assigned to address a clientrequest, incident, problem, and so forth. In certain implementations,this approach is provided on a single platform, and may allow servicematters to be indexed or accessed using a common or shared identifier(e.g., a case or reference number) that facilitates accessinginformation from all involved technical teams at the agent level as wellas allowing the technical teams themselves to readily see activity byother teams.

Various refinements of the features noted above may exist in relation tovarious aspects of the present disclosure. Further features may also beincorporated in these various aspects as well. These refinements andadditional features may exist individually or in any combination. Forinstance, various features discussed below in relation to one or more ofthe illustrated embodiments may be incorporated into any of theabove-described aspects of the present disclosure alone or in anycombination. The brief summary presented above is intended only tofamiliarize the reader with certain aspects and contexts of embodimentsof the present disclosure without limitation to the claimed subjectmatter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various aspects of this disclosure may be better understood upon readingthe following detailed description and upon reference to the drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a cloud architecture inwhich embodiments of the present disclosure may operate;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a multi-instance cloudarchitecture in which embodiments of the present disclosure may operate;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a computing device utilized in a computingsystem that may be present in FIG. 1 or 2, in accordance with aspects ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment in which a virtualserver supports and enables the client instance, in accordance withaspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 depicts an overview of various aspects of an IT customer servicemanagement process in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 depicts a swim-lane type view of a request scenario in accordancewith aspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 depicts a swim-lane type view of a problem scenario in accordancewith aspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 depicts a swim-lane type view of a change scenario in accordancewith aspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 depicts a swim-lane type view of an incident scenario inaccordance with aspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 depicts an example screen of a listing of cases as may bepresented to a case agent, in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 11 depicts an example screen of details for a case as may bepresented to a case agent, in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 12 depicts an example of a case detail screen showing options for acase agent to generate a request, incident, problem, or changeassociated with the case, in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 13 depicts an example screen of details for an incident generatedfor a case, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 14 depicts an example of a case detail screen showing relatedrecords associated with the case, in accordance with aspects of thepresent disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

One or more specific embodiments will be described below. In an effortto provide a concise description of these embodiments, not all featuresof an actual implementation are described in the specification. Itshould be appreciated that in the development of any such actualimplementation, as in any engineering or design project, numerousimplementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve thedevelopers' specific goals, such as compliance with system-related andenterprise-related constraints, which may vary from one implementationto another. Moreover, it should be appreciated that such a developmenteffort might be complex and time consuming, but would nevertheless be aroutine undertaking of design, fabrication, and manufacture for those ofordinary skill having the benefit of this disclosure.

As used herein, the term “computing system” refers to an electroniccomputing device such as, but not limited to, a single computer, virtualmachine, virtual container, host, server, laptop, and/or mobile device,or to a plurality of electronic computing devices working together toperform the function described as being performed on or by the computingsystem. As used herein, the term “medium” refers to one or morenon-transitory, computer-readable physical media that together store thecontents described as being stored thereon. Embodiments may includenon-volatile secondary storage, read-only memory (ROM), and/orrandom-access memory (RAM). As used herein, the term “application”refers to one or more computing modules, programs, processes, workloads,threads and/or a set of computing instructions executed by a computingsystem. Example embodiments of an application include software modules,software objects, software instances and/or other types of executablecode. As used herein, the terms alerts, requests (REQs), incidents(INTs), changes (CHGs), and problems (PRBs) are used in accordance withthe generally accepted use of this terminology in the informationtechnology (IT) customer service context and may be defined in greaterdetail, or concrete examples provided, herein. Moreover, the term“issues” with respect to customer service in an IT context as usedherein collectively refers at least to requests, incidents, problems,and changes.

As discussed herein, the present disclosure relates techniques forcoordinating and synchronizing client-facing support services with theactivities and responses from one or more technical teams assigned toaddress a client issue. In certain implementations, this may allow anagent or customer approach to use a single reference (such as a case ormatter number) to access information or updates from technical teamsthat do not typically employ such a number for their own trackingpurposes. In this manner, relevant information to a client issue may beaccessed from all involved technical teams at the agent level as well asallowing the technical teams themselves to readily see activity by otherteams. By way of example, a common interface, such as a customer servicemanagement interface used by a customer service agent, may be used toreview and access information pertinent to an issue from multipletechnical groups of teams that do not typically reference or index theiractivities using the customer service matter identifier (e.g., matter orcase number). Further, the customer service management interface may beupdated or synchronized based on the shared matter identifier to reflectall activity by the relevant technical teams or groups. A customerservice agent may then use the interface to track progress on a clientissue being worked and/or to generate additional action items for agiven technical team or group based on the observed progress or status.In a further aspect, a customer service agent, using the approachesdescribed herein, may associate multiple cases or matters from differentclients for root cause analysis or based on an identified common rootcause to allow the agent to handle the related cases in an expeditiousmanner.

With the preceding in mind, the following figures relate to varioustypes of generalized system architectures or configurations that may beemployed to provide services to an organization in a multi-instanceframework and on which the present customer service managementapproaches may be employed. Correspondingly, these system and platformexamples may also relate to systems and platforms on which thetechniques discussed herein may be implemented or otherwise utilized.Turning now to FIG. 1, a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a cloudcomputing system 10 where embodiments of the present disclosure mayoperate, is illustrated. The cloud computing system 10 may include aclient network 12, a network 14 (e.g., the Internet), and a cloud-basedplatform 16. In some implementations, the cloud-based platform 16 may bea configuration management database (CMDB) platform. In one embodiment,the client network 12 may be a local private network, such as local areanetwork (LAN) having a variety of network devices that include, but arenot limited to, switches, servers, and routers. In another embodiment,the client network 12 represents an enterprise network that couldinclude one or more LANs, virtual networks, data centers 18, and/orother remote networks. As shown in FIG. 1, the client network 12 is ableto connect to one or more client devices 20A, 20B, and 20C so that theclient devices are able to communicate with each other and/or with thenetwork hosting the platform 16. The client devices 20 may be computingsystems and/or other types of computing devices generally referred to asInternet of Things (IoT) devices that access cloud computing services,for example, via a web browser application or via an edge device 22 thatmay act as a gateway between the client devices 20 and the platform 16.FIG. 1 also illustrates that the client network 12 includes anadministration or managerial device or server, such as a management,instrumentation, and discovery (MID) server 24 that facilitatescommunication of data between the network hosting the platform 16, otherexternal applications, data sources, and services, and the clientnetwork 12. Although not specifically illustrated in FIG. 1, the clientnetwork 12 may also include a connecting network device (e.g., a gatewayor router) or a combination of devices that implement a customerfirewall or intrusion protection system.

For the illustrated embodiment, FIG. 1 illustrates that client network12 is coupled to a network 14. The network 14 may include one or morecomputing networks, such as other LANs, wide area networks (WAN), theInternet, and/or other remote networks, to transfer data between theclient devices 20 and the network hosting the platform 16. Each of thecomputing networks within network 14 may contain wired and/or wirelessprogrammable devices that operate in the electrical and/or opticaldomain. For example, network 14 may include wireless networks, such ascellular networks (e.g., Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM)based cellular network), IEEE 802.11 networks, and/or other suitableradio-based networks. The network 14 may also employ any number ofnetwork communication protocols, such as Transmission Control Protocol(TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP). Although not explicitly shown in FIG.1, network 14 may include a variety of network devices, such as servers,routers, network switches, and/or other network hardware devicesconfigured to transport data over the network 14.

In FIG. 1, the network hosting the platform 16 may be a remote network(e.g., a cloud network) that is able to communicate with the clientdevices 20 via the client network 12 and network 14. The network hostingthe platform 16 provides additional computing resources to the clientdevices 20 and/or the client network 12. For example, by utilizing thenetwork hosting the platform 16, users of the client devices 20 are ableto build and execute applications for various enterprise, IT, and/orother organization-related functions. In one embodiment, the networkhosting the platform 16 is implemented on the one or more data centers18, where each data center could correspond to a different geographiclocation. Each of the data centers 18 includes a plurality of virtualservers 26 (also referred to herein as application nodes, applicationservers, virtual server instances, application instances, or applicationserver instances), where each virtual server 26 can be implemented on aphysical computing system, such as a single electronic computing device(e.g., a single physical hardware server) or across multiple-computingdevices (e.g., multiple physical hardware servers). Examples of virtualservers 26 include, but are not limited to a web server (e.g., a unitaryApache installation), an application server (e.g., unitary JAVA VirtualMachine), and/or a database server (e.g., a unitary relational databasemanagement system (RDBMS) catalog).

To utilize computing resources within the platform 16, network operatorsmay choose to configure the data centers 18 using a variety of computinginfrastructures. In one embodiment, one or more of the data centers 18are configured using a multi-tenant cloud architecture, such that one ofthe server instances 26 handles requests from and serves multiplecustomers. Data centers 18 with multi-tenant cloud architecturecommingle and store data from multiple customers, where multiplecustomer instances are assigned to one of the virtual servers 26. In amulti-tenant cloud architecture, the particular virtual server 26distinguishes between and segregates data and other information of thevarious customers. For example, a multi-tenant cloud architecture couldassign a particular identifier for each customer in order to identifyand segregate the data from each customer. Generally, implementing amulti-tenant cloud architecture may suffer from various drawbacks, suchas a failure of a particular one of the server instances 26 causingoutages for all customers allocated to the particular server instance.

In another embodiment, one or more of the data centers 18 are configuredusing a multi-instance cloud architecture to provide every customer itsown unique customer instance or instances. For example, a multi-instancecloud architecture could provide each customer instance with its owndedicated application server and dedicated database server. In otherexamples, the multi-instance cloud architecture could deploy a singlephysical or virtual server 26 and/or other combinations of physicaland/or virtual servers 26, such as one or more dedicated web servers,one or more dedicated application servers, and one or more databaseservers, for each customer instance. In a multi-instance cloudarchitecture, multiple customer instances could be installed on one ormore respective hardware servers, where each customer instance isallocated certain portions of the physical server resources, such ascomputing memory, storage, and processing power. By doing so, eachcustomer instance has its own unique software stack that provides thebenefit of data isolation, relatively less downtime for customers toaccess the platform 16, and customer-driven upgrade schedules. Anexample of implementing a customer instance within a multi-instancecloud architecture will be discussed in more detail below with referenceto FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a multi-instance cloudarchitecture 100 where embodiments of the present disclosure mayoperate. FIG. 2 illustrates that the multi-instance cloud architecture100 includes the client network 12 and the network 14 that connect totwo (e.g., paired) data centers 18A and 18B that may be geographicallyseparated from one another. Using FIG. 2 as an example, networkenvironment and service provider cloud infrastructure client instance102 (also referred to herein as a client instance 102) is associatedwith (e.g., supported and enabled by) dedicated virtual servers (e.g.,virtual servers 26A, 26B, 26C, and 26D) and dedicated database servers(e.g., virtual database servers 104A and 104B). Stated another way, thevirtual servers 26A-26D and virtual database servers 104A and 104B arenot shared with other client instances and are specific to therespective client instance 102. In the depicted example, to facilitateavailability of the client instance 102, the virtual servers 26A-26D andvirtual database servers 104A and 104B are allocated to two differentdata centers 18A and 18B so that one of the data centers 18 acts as abackup data center. Other embodiments of the multi-instance cloudarchitecture 100 could include other types of dedicated virtual servers,such as a web server. For example, the client instance 102 could beassociated with (e.g., supported and enabled by) the dedicated virtualservers 26A-26D, dedicated virtual database servers 104A and 104B, andadditional dedicated virtual web servers (not shown in FIG. 2).

Although FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate specific embodiments of a cloudcomputing system 10 and a multi-instance cloud architecture 100,respectively, the disclosure is not limited to the specific embodimentsillustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. For instance, although FIG. 1 illustratesthat the platform 16 is implemented using data centers, otherembodiments of the platform 16 are not limited to data centers and canutilize other types of remote network infrastructures. Moreover, otherembodiments of the present disclosure may combine one or more differentvirtual servers into a single virtual server or, conversely, performoperations attributed to a single virtual server using multiple virtualservers. For instance, using FIG. 2 as an example, the virtual servers26A, 26B, 26C, 26D and virtual database servers 104A, 104B may becombined into a single virtual server. Moreover, the present approachesmay be implemented in other architectures or configurations, including,but not limited to, multi-tenant architectures, generalizedclient/server implementations, and/or even on a single physicalprocessor-based device configured to perform some or all of theoperations discussed herein. Similarly, though virtual servers ormachines may be referenced to facilitate discussion of animplementation, physical servers may instead be employed as appropriate.The use and discussion of FIGS. 1 and 2 are only examples to facilitateease of description and explanation and are not intended to limit thedisclosure to the specific examples illustrated therein.

As may be appreciated, the respective architectures and frameworksdiscussed with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2 incorporate computing systems ofvarious types (e.g., servers, workstations, client devices, laptops,tablet computers, cellular telephones, and so forth) throughout. For thesake of completeness, a brief, high level overview of componentstypically found in such systems is provided. As may be appreciated, thepresent overview is intended to merely provide a high-level, generalizedview of components typical in such computing systems and should not beviewed as limiting in terms of components discussed or omitted fromdiscussion.

With this in mind, and by way of background, it may be appreciated thatthe present approach may be implemented using one or moreprocessor-based systems such as shown in FIG. 3. Likewise, applicationsand/or databases utilized in the present approach may be stored,employed, and/or maintained on such processor-based systems. As may beappreciated, such systems as shown in FIG. 3 may be present in adistributed computing environment, a networked environment, or othermulti-computer platform or architecture. Likewise, systems such as thatshown in FIG. 3, may be used in supporting or communicating with one ormore virtual environments or computational instances on which thepresent approach may be implemented.

With this in mind, an example computer system may include some or all ofthe computer components depicted in FIG. 3. FIG. 3 generally illustratesa block diagram of example components of a computing system 200 andtheir potential interconnections or communication paths, such as alongone or more busses. As illustrated, the computing system 200 may includevarious hardware components such as, but not limited to, one or moreprocessors 202, one or more busses 204, memory 206, input devices 208, apower source 210, a network interface 212, a user interface 214, and/orother computer components useful in performing the functions describedherein.

The one or more processors 202 may include one or more microprocessorscapable of performing instructions stored in the memory 206.Additionally or alternatively, the one or more processors 202 mayinclude application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs),field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and/or other devices designed toperform some or all of the functions discussed herein without callinginstructions from the memory 206.

With respect to other components, the one or more busses 204 includesuitable electrical channels to provide data and/or power between thevarious components of the computing system 200. The memory 206 mayinclude any tangible, non-transitory, and computer-readable storagemedia. Although shown as a single block in FIG. 1, the memory 206 can beimplemented using multiple physical units of the same or different typesin one or more physical locations. The input devices 208 correspond tostructures to input data and/or commands to the one or more processors202. For example, the input devices 208 may include a mouse, touchpad,touchscreen, keyboard and the like. The power source 210 can be anysuitable source for power of the various components of the computingdevice 200, such as line power and/or a battery source. The networkinterface 212 includes one or more transceivers capable of communicatingwith other devices over one or more networks (e.g., a communicationchannel). The network interface 212 may provide a wired networkinterface or a wireless network interface. A user interface 214 mayinclude a display that is configured to display text or imagestransferred to it from the one or more processors 202. In additionand/or alternative to the display, the user interface 214 may includeother devices for interfacing with a user, such as lights (e.g., LEDs),speakers, and the like.

With the preceding in mind, FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating anembodiment in which a virtual server 300 supports and enables the clientinstance 102, according to one or more disclosed embodiments. Morespecifically, FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a portion of a serviceprovider cloud infrastructure, including the cloud-based platform 16discussed above. The cloud-based platform 16 is connected to a clientdevice 20D via the network 14 to provide a user interface to networkapplications executing within the client instance 102 (e.g., via a webbrowser of the client device 20D). Client instance 102 is supported byvirtual servers 26 similar to those explained with respect to FIG. 2,and is illustrated here to show support for the disclosed functionalitydescribed herein within the client instance 102. Cloud providerinfrastructures are generally configured to support a plurality ofend-user devices, such as client device 20D, concurrently, wherein eachend-user device is in communication with the single client instance 102.Also, cloud provider infrastructures may be configured to support anynumber of client instances, such as client instance 102, concurrently,with each of the instances in communication with one or more end-userdevices. As mentioned above, an end-user may also interface with clientinstance 102 using an application that is executed within a web browser.With this in mind, the present customer service management discussionmay be relevant to addressing issues experienced by a user with respectto a client device 20, the client instance 102, and application node ordatabase accessed via the instance, or other relevant IT contexts,including those that do not occur within an instanced environment asdescribed in the above examples.

Turning to FIG. 5 a high-level overview of various aspects of an ITcustomer service issue resolution are illustrated. In this example, auser 320 at a client site (e.g., a user of a client device 20 or whointeracts with a client instance 102) may generate a customer servicecase 322, such as in response to a question or reported issue or arequest. The case may be generated in response to an automatedinteraction between the user 320 and the customer service platform or bya customer service agent who evaluates the communication from the user320 and opens a corresponding case 322 if needed. It may also be noted,that the aspects of the present approach discussed herein may afford acustomer (e.g., user 320) control over which agents or types of agents(e.g., based on certifications, experience, prior history, and so forth)can perform or open which actions with respect to a case. For example, acustomer may stipulate that only agents 322 having so many years ofexperience or certain certifications may request a change be made totheir system. Once the case 322 is opened, one or more technical groups(e.g., an incident response team 330, a problem team 332, a changeimplementation team 334, a request handling team 336, and so forth) mayperform respective actions defined by their roles to resolve the case322.

As discussed in greater detail below, various aspects of this processmay be handled in accordance with the present approach to improvevisibility of progress with respect to the case 322 to the user 320and/or customer service agent. By way of example, various use cases andprocess flows are described below for different service contexts.

With this in mind, and turning to FIG. 6, a request scenario isdescribed. As used herein, a “request” in the customer service contextcorresponds to a request by the customer for a feature, device, service,and so forth that the customer wants to add to their existing serviceand/or is entitled to add. For example, a request as used herein may befor an upgrade or addition to available cloud resources, for anadditional hardware device (e.g., a new or additional laptop), for adefined or common service (e.g., a password reset or change). Withrespect to the present discussion the request for a service, action, orhardware, may be associated with a defined or known process and may berelated to a frequently asked for or common item or service. Forexample, a request may result from a selection by a customer of aservice or item from an online catalog of services or items offered tothe customer, such as may be made available via customer servicemanagement portal.

With this in mind, and turning to FIG. 6, a swim lane type view ispresented defining steps in a request fulfillment process in accordancewith the present approach and how such steps may be characterized interms of the relevant party, i.e., customer 380, case agent (real orvirtual) 382, and technical group, here the request handling team 336.In this example, the customer 320 initially submits (step 390) a request400, such as via a service portal accessed on a client instance. Asnoted above, the request 400 may be submitted by selecting a serviceoption from a menu of such options or making a selection from an onlinecatalog of items or services.

In response to the submission 390 of the request 400, a case 322 isopened, either by a case agent 382 or in an automated manner (e.g., avirtual agent or automated routine) in response to the submission 390.As discussed herein, the case 322 may have an associated referenceidentifier (e.g., matter number or case number) by which the customer320 and/or case agent 382 reference and relate to the case 322.

The request 400 associated with the case 322 may be opened as a matterto be handled by the corresponding technical group, here requesthandling team 336. As noted above, the technical group may have its owndefined matter referencing and/or tracking system. However, inaccordance with this approach, the request 400 may still be associatedwith and tracked by the reference identifier associated with the case322 to which the case agent 382 and/or customer 320 may refer. In therequest example, requests 400 may have defined steps or processes forfulfilling the request, such as may be the case for a password reset orother common, well-defined requests.

In the depicted example, a request may have multiple parts or items(e.g., request Items (RITM)), each of which may need to be approved orevaluated at step 402. If an item in the request 400 is not approved atstep 402, either the entire request 400 may be canceled or the requestmay be modified to cancel the unapproved item, as shown at step 404. Inthe event of a partial or complete request cancelation, the case 322 maybe updated as shown so as to allow the case agent 382 and/or customer320 to observe the current status of the request 400 and to take anyneeded corrective action.

For requests or request items approved at step 402, one or morefulfillment tasks may be assigned (step 410) to request team members tohandle the processing of the request 400. Assignment of the request orrequest items and feedback to and from request team members (such asrequests for additional information or clarifications) may be added tothe case 322 as shown to allow the agent 382 and/or customer 320 provideany additional guidance or information needed to fulfill the request400. Request fulfillment tasks may continue to be performed until alltasks are determined to be closed or completed (step 412), at whichpoint the request 400 may be closed (step 414) in the request handlingteam's workflow and the case 322 correspondingly updated.

With the preceding in mind, certain aspects of the present approach maybe noted. In accordance with this approach, a case 322 may beautomatically created in response to a customer request submission 390.The customer and the case agent, may reference the request 400throughout the process using the reference identifier for the case 322,without having to know the tracking reference used by the technicalgroup, i.e., there is a single point of reference for the customer 320and agent 382 to track and use. Further, requests 400 and thecorresponding fulfillment actions are updated to and automaticallysynchronized with the case 322, which may be on a platform distinct fromthat employed by the technical team.

While requests 400 represent known or defined processes for routinetasks or services provided to a customer, in other circumstances theservice issue may be less defined. For example, a problem (PRB) scenariois described as one such issue. As used herein, a “problem” in thecustomer service context, unlike a request, does not relate to astandardized activity or known process. Instead, a “problem” wouldtypically correspond to an event in which the customer has a failure ormis-performance in supported hardware, software, communications, and soforth. Such a failure, in certain example, may be associated with anerror or failure code or other reportable message generated in responseto the event. For example, a “problem” as used herein may constitute ahardware failure or crash, an application or operating system errormessage or crash, a network or connection failure, failure to mount oraccess a database, and so forth. As used herein, a problem is typicallyaddressed by making a change to an application or system, such asapplying an update or patch or other fix, and may be distinct from anincident where such changes may not be needed to address a technicalproblem.

With this in mind, and turning to FIG. 7, another swim lane type view ispresented defining steps in a problem identification process inaccordance with the present approach and how such steps may becharacterized in terms of the relevant party. In this example, thecustomer 320 initially opens (step 440) a case 322 to report a problem450, such as via a service portal accessed on a client instance. Asdiscussed herein, the case 322 may have an associated referenceidentifier (e.g., matter number or case number) by which the customer320 and/or case agent 382 reference and relate to the case 322. As notedabove, the submission of the problem may include an error or failurecode or other reportable messages generated by the problem. Similarly, ascreenshot may be submitted as part of the problem reporting tofacilitate evaluation of the problem.

In the depicted example, a case agent 382 may initially review thesubmission from the customer 320 regarding the problem 450. Based on thesubmission, the case agent 382 may initially try to identify the problem450 or a cause of the problem 450. For example, the case agent 382 mayperform a search 454, such as based upon a provided error code or othersubmitted details to attempt to identify the problem in a database ofknown problems. If the problem 450 is found (block 456) based on thesearch, the case 322 may be linked to (step 458) or otherwise referencethe existing or known problem 450. In this scenario, by linking the case322 with the known problem 450, the case agent 382 may be able to moreefficiently identify a root cause for the submitted problem and may havebetter information at an earlier stage of the process. Conversely, ifthe problem 450 is not found (block 456) a new problem 450 may becreated and submitted to the problem identification team 332 foridentification of a root cause. With this in mind, one case 322 may belinked to one problem 450, but one problem 450 may be linked to multiplecases 322, such as where a problem 450 affects multiple clients orclient instances.

As shown in the example of FIG. 7, the problem 450 associated with thecase 322 may be opened as a matter to be handled by the correspondingtechnical group, here problem identification team 332. As mentionedabove, the matter referencing and/or tracking system of the technicalgroup may not be based on the case reference identifier. However, inaccordance with this approach, the problem 450 may still be associatedwith and tracked by the reference identifier associated with the case322 to which the case agent 382 and/or customer 320 may refer.

In the depicted example, an initial determination (block 470) may bemade by the problem team 332 to determine of the cause of the problem450 is known. If the cause is known, an additional determination (block472) may be made as to whether a solution 474 for the problem 450exists. If so, the case 322 may be updated (step 480) to reflect thesolution 474. If the cause is not known, an additional determination(block 476) may be made as to whether a workaround for the problem 450exists. If there is no solution 474 but there is a workaround or thecause of the problem is known (block 482), the case 322 may instead beupdated (step 480) to reflect the workaround or known error. If theproblem 450 has no known root cause, workaround, or solution, the case322 may instead be updated to reflect that the problem is underinvestigation.

As in the preceding example, the automatic synchronization of databetween the technical team and the case agent 382 at the level of thecase 322 improves the ability of the case agent 382 to communicate withthe customer with timely and accurate information regarding the problem.Further, the customer and the case agent, may reference the problem 450throughout the process using the reference identifier for the case 322,without having to know the tracking reference used by the technicalgroup, i.e., there is a single point of reference for the customer 320and agent 382 to track and use. Further, problems and the correspondingresolution activity are updated to and automatically synchronized withthe case 322, which may be on a platform distinct from that employed bythe technical team.

In response to identifying a problem, or in other administrativecontexts or the normal operational scheme, one or more changes (e.g.,system or application updates, application of patches, installation ofdriver, and so forth) may also be implemented as part of customerservice management operations. As used herein, a “change” may beconsidered distinct from a “problem” in that is it performed by atechnical team either to address a problem or as part of recommendedservice management or practice. As discussed in the present example, thechange implementation team 334 may be distinct and different from theproblem identification team 332. In cases where the change is made toaddress a problem, and consistent with the present approach, the samecase 322 may be updated with both the problem and change information sothat the customer 320 and case agent 382 can access both the currentproblem and change information via the case 322, even when the changeteam 334 and problem team 332 employ different tracking systems andplatforms to perform their respective operations.

With this in mind, and turning to FIG. 8, a swim lane type view ispresented defining steps in a change implementation process inaccordance with the present approach and how such steps may becharacterized in terms of the relevant party. In this example, thecustomer 320 may open (step 440) a case 322 to request a change 500,such as via a service portal accessed on a client instance.Alternatively, as noted above, the change 500 may be initiated by thecase agent 382 as part of an ongoing case 322, such as in response to aproblem 450 being identified and the change 500 being indicated as apossible solution 474 or workaround. As discussed herein, the case 322may have an associated reference identifier (e.g., matter number or casenumber) by which the customer 320 and/or case agent 382 reference andrelate to the case 322.

In the depicted example, a case agent 382 may initially review or searchthe change (step 502), such as to determine if the change 500 alreadyscheduled to be implemented. For example, as with problems, a change 405(such as a system wide update, bulk patch, equipment repair or upgrade,and so forth) may be linked to multiple cases 322, such as where thechange 500 affects multiple clients or client instances, though eachcase is typically linked to only one change. If the change 500 is found(block 504) to already be scheduled, the case 322 may be linked to (step506) or otherwise reference the scheduled change 500. Conversely, if thechange 500 is not currently scheduled (block 508) a new change 500 maybe created and submitted to the change implementation team 334.

As shown in the example of FIG. 8, the change 500 associated with thecase 322 may be opened as a matter to be handled by the correspondingtechnical group, here change implementation team 334. As mentionedabove, the matter referencing and/or tracking system of the technicalgroup may not be based on the case reference identifier. However, inaccordance with this approach, the change 500 may still be associatedwith and tracked by the reference identifier associated with the case322 to which the case agent 382 and/or customer 320 may refer.

In the depicted example, an initial determination (block 510) may bemade by the change implementation team 332 to determine if the change500 is approved. If not, the process does not proceed until the change500 receives approval. Once the change 500 is approved, the change 500is scheduled (step 512) and the case 322 may be updated (step 526) withthe scheduling information. When the scheduled time is reached, thechange implementation team 334 may implement (step 514) the change 500.Post-implementation a review (step 516) may be conducted to determinewhether the change 500 has been implemented correctly and that no newissues are evident. Upon conclusion of the review, the change task maybe closed (step 518) by the change implementation team 334. At eachstage of the change implementation process (e.g., scheduling 514,implementation 516, review 516, and close 518) the case 322 may beupdated (step 526) to reflect the current status of the change 500.

It may be noted that, due to being able to link multiple types ofactivity at the level of the case 322, more information may be madeavailable to the case agent 382 and customer 320 that is typically thecase. As noted above, for example, change tracking may be added to acase in response to prior problem identification, allowing the agent 382to view activity by both technical groups. For example a change task 500may be added to a case 322 in response to identification of a cause of aproblem 450, allowing the agent 382 to access both technical group'sactivities via the case 322. Conversely, to the extent a change 500creates a problem 450 (e.g., an applied change results in a performanceregression, causing the customer to open a problem), this linkagebetween the change resulting in the problem may also be seen in theinterface proved to the case agent 382. Such information may beparticularly useful in allowing case agents 382 to see how many problemsresults from a change being applied.

As in the preceding example, the automatic synchronization of databetween the technical team and the case agent 382 at the level of thecase 322 improves the ability of the case agent 382 to communicate withthe customer with timely and accurate information regarding the change.Further, the customer and the case agent, may reference the change 500throughout the process using the reference identifier for the case 322,without having to know the tracking reference used by the technicalgroup, i.e., there is a single point of reference for the customer 320and agent 382 to track and use. Further, change implementation processand milestones are updated to and automatically synchronized with thecase 322, which may be on a platform distinct from that employed by thetechnical team.

In addition to requests, problems, and changes, another type of issueroutinely handled by case agents 382 are incidents. Such incidents maybe viewed as distinct from problems, which typically are addressed byapplying a change, but may still require help or action from a technicalteam. By way of example, an incident correspond to an occurrence thatmay be resolved by actions such as rebooting or restarting anapplication node, a database server, or a piece of hardware (e.g., aphysical server, load balancer, and so forth) or other actions short ofapplying a change to a system or application.

With this in mind, and turning to FIG. 9, a further swim lane type viewis presented defining steps in an incident resolution process inaccordance with the present approach and how such steps may becharacterized in terms of the relevant party. In this example, thecustomer 320 initially opens (step 440) a case 322 to report an incident550, such as via a service portal accessed on a client instance. Asdiscussed herein, the case 322 may have an associated referenceidentifier (e.g., matter number or case number) by which the customer320 and/or case agent 382 reference and relate to the case 322. Thesubmission of the incident information may include codes, errormessages, or text that describe or characterize the incident. Similarly,a screenshot may be submitted as part of the incident reporting tofacilitate evaluation of the incident.

In the depicted example, a case agent 382 may initially review thesubmission from the customer 320 regarding the incident 550. Based onthe submission, the case agent 382 may initially try to evaluate theincident 550 and, in particular, see if the incident already has beenreported, such as by another customer. For example, the case agent 382may perform a search 570, such as based upon information describing theincident submitted by the customer 320. If the incident 550 is found(block 572) to already exist, the case 322 may be linked to (step 574)or otherwise reference the existing or known incident 550. In thisscenario, by linking the case 322 with the known incident 550, the caseagent 382 may be able to more efficiently identify a cause for thesubmitted incident and may have better information at an earlier stageof the process. Conversely, if the incident 550 is not found (block 576)a new incident 550 may be created and submitted to the incidentresolution team 330 for resolution. With this in mind, as in precedingexamples, one case 322 may be linked to one incident 550, but oneincident 550 may be linked to multiple cases 322, such as where anincident 550 affects multiple clients or client instances.

As shown in the example of FIG. 9, the incident 550 associated with thecase 322 may be opened as a matter to be handled by the correspondingtechnical group, here incident resolution team 330. As mentioned above,the matter referencing and/or tracking system of the technical group maynot be based on the case reference identifier. However, in accordancewith this approach, the incident 550 may still be associated with andtracked by the reference identifier associated with the case 322 towhich the case agent 382 and/or customer 320 may refer.

In the depicted example, the incident 550, may be processed or worked bythe incident resolution team (i.e., may be “in progress” (block 580)).Once corrective action is taken by the incident resolution team, theincident may be deemed to be resolved (block 582) and upon confirmationof the successful resolution of the incident 550, the status may bechanged to closed (block 584) in the technical team's task list. At eachstage of the incident resolution process (e.g., in progress 580,resolved 582, and closed 584) the case 322 may be updated to reflect thecurrent status of the incident resolution process.

As in the preceding examples, the automatic synchronization of databetween the technical team and the case agent 382 at the level of thecase 322 improves the ability of the case agent 382 to communicate withthe customer with timely and accurate information regarding theincident. Further, the customer and the case agent, may reference theincident 450 throughout the process using the reference identifier forthe case 322, without having to know the tracking reference used by thetechnical group, i.e., there is a single point of reference for thecustomer 320 and agent 382 to track and use. Further, incidentresolution activity is updated to and automatically synchronized withthe case 322, which may be on a platform distinct from that employed bythe technical team.

With the preceding in mind, and by way of providing a practical exampleof a real world implementation of the present approach, the followingfigures depict sample screenshots of an interface that may be interactedwith by a case agent 382 to process cases 322 as discussed herein.Turning to FIG. 10, an example, of a case list screen 600 listing cases322 being worked by a respective case agent 382 is shown. Each case isidentified by a reference identifier 604, here a case number, andincludes a brief description 608, action or task status 612, contact616, customer account 620, channel 624, case state 628, priority 632,assignment 636, and update time stamp 640.

Turning to FIG. 11, upon selection of a case 322 to be worked on, a casedetail screen 650 may be displayed. The case detail screen 650 in thisexample includes some or all of the data present on the case listingscreen and in addition may include additional data, such as an activitylog or listing 654 which may be reviewed, changed, updated, or added toby the case agent 382 and which may include notes useful to the agentfor determining a history and current disposition of a case 322.

Turning to FIG. 12, via the case detail screen 650 of the presentexample, a case agent 382 may, as discussed in greater detail above,create an incident (option 660), create a change (option 662), create aproblem (option 664), or create a request (option 666). Thus, for agiven case, a case agent 382 may create or initiate a variety oftechnical services that remain linked to the case, despite therespective technical groups providing the technical service potentiallyemploying a different tracking system or nomenclature.

By way of example, and turning to FIG. 13, an incident screen 680 isillustrated for the case in question and which may be generated inresponse to the case agent 382 selecting the create incident option 660illustrated in FIG. 12. Thus, as shown, the incident details 682 areaccessible along with case details within the case itself, asrepresented by case reference identifier 604. Information relevant to anincident (e.g., incident details, tasks, affected applications and/orhardware, affected services, and so forth) may be presented, along withdetails regarding the priority, state, and category of the incident.Similarly, the presence of, or connections to, child or relatedincidents is also provided so as to be accessible within the caseinformation. Prior activity 684 relevant to work done to resolve theincident may also be shown. In addition, actions or status updates 686available to the case agent 382 from the incident screen (e.g., assign,save, resolve, and so forth) may also be available within the incidentscreen.

Returning to the case detail screen 650, and turning to FIG. 14, anadditional feature described herein is illustrated. In particular, asnoted herein, in accordance with the present approach a given case maybe associated over its history with more than one problem, incident,request, change, and so forth. For example, a case may initially beassociated with identifying a problem arising from a customersubmission. Upon identification of the problem, a change may be createdand associated with the case. With such possible chains of technicalservices being associated with a case, FIG. 14 depicts how a case detailscreen 650 (or other suitable screen) may also display related records700 related to different technical services. In this example, thedepicted case is associated with both an incident and a problem, whichmay arise in a scenario where an incident is initially created andsubsequently determined to be a problem (e.g., requiring a change) or inwhich a problem is initially created but subsequently determined to bebetter resolved as an incident (e.g., no change needed to resolve).Alternatively, the case in question may justifiably involve beingassociated with a problem and an incident, requiring both technicalteams to fully address all issues raised by the customer and associatedwith the case.

The specific embodiments described above have been shown by way ofexample, and it should be understood that these embodiments may besusceptible to various modifications and alternative forms. It should befurther understood that the claims are not intended to be limited to theparticular forms disclosed, but rather to cover all modifications,equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope ofthis disclosure.

The techniques presented and claimed herein are referenced and appliedto material objects and concrete examples of a practical nature thatdemonstrably improve the present technical field and, as such, are notabstract, intangible or purely theoretical. Further, if any claimsappended to the end of this specification contain one or more elementsdesignated as “means for [perform]ing [a function] . . . ” or “step for[perform]ing [a function] . . . ”, it is intended that such elements areto be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f). However, for any claimscontaining elements designated in any other manner, it is intended thatsuch elements are not to be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f).

1. A method for managing a service task of a service case, comprising:receiving a request to perform the service task at one service team of aplurality of service teams, wherein each of the plurality of serviceteams is working on a respective service task related to the servicecase, wherein the request comprises a case reference identifier thatidentifies the service case on a customer service platform for a client;identifying a root cause for the service task based on the service taskbeing linked to one or more known cases corresponding to one or moreknown resolutions; and updating data associated with the service taskusing a technical team identifier, wherein the technical team identifieris distinct from the case reference identifier, and wherein the data isaccessible by the customer service platform using the case referenceidentifier without reference to the technical team identifier.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the service case is linked to the one or moreknown cases based on a search of a database of cases performed using acode associated with the service case.
 3. The method of claim 2, whereinthe code comprises an error code, a screenshot, a reportable message orinformation, or a combination thereof, submitted with the request forthe service case.
 4. The method of claim 1, comprising: resolving anadditional service task associated with an additional service case basedon the identified root cause and the one or more known resolutions forthe linked one or more cases.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein theadditional service case is associated with an additional clientdifferent than the client.
 6. The method of claim 4, wherein the clientis associated with a first client instance, and wherein the additionalservice case is associated with an additional client instance differentthan the first client instance.
 7. The method of claim 1, whereininformation for two or more service tasks generated for the service caseare accessible via the service case without separate communicationbetween the plurality of service teams processing the two or moreservice tasks.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the service taskcomprises at least one of a request task, a problem task, a change task,or an incident task.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein updating the datacomprises reflecting a completion or a status of one or more steps forperforming the service task by the one service team.
 10. A system,comprising: a case agent, comprising: a memory configured to storeinstructions; and a processor configured to execute the instructions,wherein the instructions cause the processor to: receive a request toassign a service task of a service case to a service team of a pluralityof service teams working on respective service tasks related to theservice case, wherein the request comprises a case reference identifier,a code, or any combination thereof, wherein the case referenceidentifier identifies the service case on a customer service platformfor a client; perform a search using the code; in response todetermining that the service task is associated with one or more knowncases based on the search, link the service task to the one or moreknown cases prior to assigning the service task to the service team; andin response to determining that the service task is separate from knowncases based on the search, assigning the service task to the serviceteam as a new task; and a service agent of the service team, comprising:a memory configured to store instructions; and a processor configured toexecute the instructions, wherein the instructions cause the processorto: receive a request to perform the service task; identify a root causefor the service task based on the service task being linked to one ormore known cases corresponding to one or more known resolutions; andupdate data associated with the service task using a technical teamidentifier, wherein the technical team identifier is distinct from thecase reference identifier, wherein the data is accessible by thecustomer service platform using the case reference identifier withoutreference to the technical team identifier.
 11. The system of claim 10,wherein each of the plurality of service teams employ respectivetracking systems separate from the customer service platform and thatuse respective technical team identifiers for processing and updatingthe respective service tasks in the respective tracking systems.
 12. Thesystem of claim 10, wherein the instructions cause the processor of theservice agent to: resolve an additional service task associated with anadditional service case based on the identified root cause and the oneor more known resolutions for the linked one or more known cases. 13.The system of claim 12, wherein the client is associated with a firstclient instance, wherein the additional service case is associated withan additional client instance different than the first client instance.14. The system of claim 10, wherein data for two or more service tasksgenerated for the service case are accessible via the case referenceidentifier without separate communication to the plurality of technicalteams processing the respective service tasks for the service case. 15.The system of claim 10, wherein the service task comprises a requesttask, a problem task, a change task, or an incident task, or anycombination thereof.
 16. The system of claim 10, wherein the servicetask comprises a problem task to identify a reported problem and whereinthe one or more known cases comprise one or more known problems.
 17. Thesystem of claim 10, wherein response to identifying the root cause, theinstructions cause the processor to: determine and apply a fix, aworkaround, a solution, or any combination thereof, associated with theone or more known resolutions.
 18. The system of claim 10, wherein theservice task comprises a change task to implement a change to anapplication, hardware, or database accessed by a client instanceassociated with the client and the service team comprises a changeimplementation team, and wherein the case agent performs the search forthe change using the code prior to assigning the change task to thechange implementation team, wherein the service case is linked to anexisting change based on the search.
 19. A tangible, non-transitory,machine-readable medium, comprising machine-readable instructions that,when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or moreprocessors to: receive a request to assign a service task of a servicecase to a service team of a plurality of service teams working onrespective service tasks related to the service case, wherein therequest comprises a case reference identifier, a code, or anycombination thereof, wherein the case reference identifier identifiesthe service case on a customer service platform for a client; perform asearch using the code; in response to determining that the service caseis associated with one or more existing cases based on the search, linkthe service case to the one or more existing cases prior to assigningthe service task to the service team, wherein linking the service caseto the one or more existing cases facilitates identifying a root causefor the service task and the one or more existing cases; and in responseto determining that the service case is separate from existing casesbased on the search, assign the service task to the service team as anew task.
 20. The tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable medium ofclaim 19, wherein the service team determines and applies one or moreresolutions for the service task by identifying the root cause for theservice task that is linked to the one or more existing casescorresponding to the one or more resolutions.